My M.P. recently suggested in a letter to the Department for Transport that all traffic signs should have dual indications - Imperial and metric - until Imperial is phased out. I thought this extract from a lengthy letter in reply (dated 13 August 2002), from Transport Minister David Jamieson, would be of wider interest:

"Dealing first with your own suggestion that road signs should in future display distances in both metric and imperial distances - we have considered this, and our view is that this would be confusing and would result in signs containing more information than drivers can safely read and absorb. It might be helpful if I explain that the Department's guidance on the design and use of directional signs is predicated on the assumption that drivers should be able to read and absorb signs within 4 seconds, and should not have to take their eyes off the road ahead to read a sign...our advice is to limit the amount of information in the interets of road safety and avoiding excessive environmental intrusion"


[Posted by T Bennett]

What on earth is your MP doing requesting something like that?

I thought MPs were meant to represent their constituents not their own tastes in things. If 97% of people prefer and want miles does that mean that the 3% all live in your MP's constituency?

What's your MP's name and party membership?

NAME AND SHAME!!!

Bill Rammell is Labour MP for Harlow. He has for years been Chairman of 'Labour in Europe', the Labour Party arm of the pro-European Union, pro-euro, Britain in Europe campaign. He was recently promoted to the post of Junior Minister in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. He is a Roman Catholic.

He is a 'Blair clone' but respected in the constituency as an energetic MP who does take a real interest in his constituents' problems.


Tony Bennett

>He is a Roman Catholic.

?

...er, as well as Bill Rammell M.P., the following are Roman Catholics: Euro Commissioner and architect of the Northern Ireland Police Service Chris Patten; Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, John Reid; the current Speaker of the House of Commons; Prime Minister's wife Cherie Blair; sponsor of the recent Bill to allow the monarch to marry a Roman Catholic and to abolish the MPs' oath of allegiance to Queen and country Kevin McNamara M.P.; leader of the Conservative Party, Iain Duncan-Smith; leader of the 'Liberal' 'Democrat' Party, Charles Kennedy; Gerry Adams, still leader of the IRA Ruling Council, all other members of the I.R.A. Ruling Council, and the leaders of 12 out of 15 states in the European Union.

The Pope is about to make the following architects of Euroepan Union Saints: Alcido Gaspieri, Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer - all prominent Roman Catholics. To become an approved Roman Catholic Saint, you have to have performed at least one miracle. I guess their success in persuading so many people in Europe that their future lies in rule by an unelected clique dedicated to imposing a single Euro-State with an entirely bogus 'Parliament' would probably count as 'miraculous'.

The symbol of both the European Union and the Council of Europe is a ring of 12 stars, a symbol to be found circling a statue of the Virgin Mary in tens of thousands of Roman Catholic Churches on the continent, especially France, Spain, Italy and Germany (based on the Papacy's misinterpretation of Revelation 12 vv 1-2). The main stained glass window in Strasbourg Cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary (in 1955 on a key Roman Catholic Saints' Day), and consists of a picture of her circled by the 12 yellow stars with a map of Europe laid out beneath her and placed in her hands. Strasbourg is the base of the European Commission on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights (which these days seems to spend much of its time issuing rulings in favour of hardened British criminals), the Council of Europe, and one of the European Union's two buildings for the European 'Parliament' (they have two because Belgium and France couldn't agree where it should be located).

The reason Britain prospered after 1688 and has remained a free, tolerant nation is becuase we became an offically Protestant nation under the Declaration and Bill of Rights 1688/9 after William of Orange ascended the throne. The true Roman Catholic's loyalty is first and foremost *not* to our Queen and our nation but to the Pope, the Head of arguably the world's most powerful - and certainly its most wealthy - political institution, the Papacy, an organisation with a sworn enmity to Britain.

But there are many Roman Catholics loyal to the principles of this country; I might for example give an honourable mention to Miss Anne Widdecombe M.P., who combined with Rev. Ian Paisley M.P. earlier this year in successfully opposing the dreadful McNamara Bill


Tony Bennett

Tony Bennet wrote: "The reason Britain has remained a free, tolerant nation is becuase we became an offically Protestant nation under the Declaration and Bill of Rights 1688/9 after William of Orange ascended the throne."

A tolerant nation ????
And what about the perpetual discrimination against catholics in the past ?

By the way, Mr Bennet, if you still believe that "the true Roman Catholic's loyalty is first and foremost *not* to our Queen and our nation but to the Pope", you're as backward as the intolerant catholic hating protestants of the 16th and 17th centuries.

"He has for years been Chairman of 'Labour in Europe'"

That says it all!

Sorry for twisting the conversation back but fascinating as the Roman Catholic/ Protestant discussion is, it aint got much to do with Roads and stuff.

(and I'm a proddy!)

Conrad,

I suggest you read the accounts of every one of the 284 burnings of ordinary English folk aged 18 to 80- plus who were burnt at the stake between 1555 to 1558 in the reign of Bloody Queen Mary, on the express orders of the Roman Catholic Bishops of the day, for no other reason than that they did not subscribe to Roman Catholic doctrines on transubstantiation and other issues. Their alleged crime, let me remind you, was 'heresy'. You can read about them in Fox's 'Book of Martyrs', which was regular reading in England until the mid-nineteenth century.

Then I suggest you study the attacks on England post 1558, notably the Spanish Armada, financed entirely by the Pope.

Then I suggest you examine just who was involved together with Guy Fawkes in trying to blow up Parliament and kill the English King in November 1605. The direct hand of the Papacy is plain - see e.g. "A History of the Gunpowder Plot", Philip Sydney (2000), ISBN 1-902817-022.

Then have a look at the persecution suffered by ordinary Protestant folk under the regime of King James II and 'Hanging' Judge Jeffreys 1685 to 1688.

Consider also the mass murder on a single day of thousands of Protestants in the streets of Paris in 1576 on St. Bartholomews' Day. The Pope was so delighted he struck a special coin to commemorate the occasion!

Remember the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France, 1689, which ended a measure of tolerance in France towards the Huguenots? No wonder the Huguenots flocked here in their tens of thousands to escape persecution and death in Roman Catholic France.

Ordinary English folk had very good reason for ending Roman Catholic influence in this country and any restrictions on Roman Catholics post-1688 were entirely justified by the history of Papal-inspired persecution in England in the previous two centuries.

I'm not sure on what basis you question English tolerance. We are known throughout the world for being a tolerant people, hence our great popularity or centuries with refugees and asylum-seekers the world over. Can you name any one country in the world which has, for example, been more receptive of refugee Jews and which has been freer from anti-Semitism?

To bring the matter back to metrication, I'd venture to suggest that it's no accident that the two countries most dominated by WASPS (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) remain the most resistant to compulsory metrication - just as in the last century they combined to resist other forms of oppression and aggression emanating from the continent of Europe


Tony Bennett

"White Anglo-Saxon Protestants"
^^^^^

The fact that you even have an abbreviation for it (WASP) suggests that you use that term a lot.

Ralf

{The true Roman Catholic's loyalty is first and foremost *not* to our Queen and our nation but to the Pope,}

No, the true Roman Catholics loyalty is first and formost to God. The Pope's authority extends no further than Church doctrine.

Most of the persecution in England can be traced directly to lack of separation between Church and State. The controlling group, whether it be Protestant or Catholic, or Islamic, will always be intolerant to differing theologies.

{o bring the matter back to metrication, I'd venture to suggest that it's no accident that the two countries most dominated by WASPS (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) remain the most resistant to compulsory metrication - just as in the last century they combined to resist other forms of oppression and aggression emanating from the continent of Europe}

American resistance to metrication or European expansion comes from our dedication to liberty and has nothing to do with Protestantism or Catholicism whatsoever.

"The fact that you even have an abbreviation for it (WASP) suggests that you use that term a lot".

WASP is quite well-known as an abbreviation, and used alot in the States. It is a counter to "Black American, "Italian American", etc.

"Wasp" is also used as a racist word by black extremists (and white middle-class liberals from hackney council who name there child "Tarquin")

What's wrong with Tarquin?

"Lars Porsena of Clusium,
By the nine gods he swore,
That the noble house of Tarquin,
Should suffer wrong no more.
By the nine gods he swore it,
And I can't remember the rest
And a something something umpty
And something something more. ...

... "Then up spake bold Horatio
The Captain of the Gate,
To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
But how can man die better,
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temple of his gods?"

"What's wrong with Tarquin?"

Well his parents are probably white middle-class liberals from hackney council.

Tony Bennett's earlier postings on here (all that stuff to do with Catholicism) really really make me laugh out loud. Hey Tony, just what sort of guy are you? Where's all the paranoia from??

Oh, and I agree very much with Conrad's posting of 13/09 at 11:09, especially the last bit.

Tony's on holiday at the moment.

If Steve is referring to the type of sanctimonious "chattering classes" that are unfortunately prevalent in all countries, Tarquin is a uniquely appropriate name. See: L. Tarquinius Superbus, a.k.a Tarquin the Proud.